Frequently Asked Questions
There is a facility on the NSP for organisations to add their generic system internal reference code. There is a self assessment process for industry training standards in place. The Skills Academy will ‘flag’ the training provided as being equivalent to the triple bar standard where appropriate. This differentiates this training entry from all others by clearly labelling that it aligns to the industry training standard.
The system can be used to record in-house training as well as training such as qualifications and training delivered to agreed Industry Training Standards and job contexts (ie the Cogent Library data). It is recommended that large organisations focus on accredited training. Contracting and smaller organisations without an existing SQEP or HR system, there is a benefit in recording all skills as this can aid in the demonstration of SQEP.
Contracting company – unless you have an agreement in place with the contracting organisation to do this on their behalf and have in place measures to comply with the 8 principles of the data protection act – this includes keeping up to date including archiving of data when the individual leaves the ‘employ’ of the organisation in accordance with the skills academy data retention policy (refer to privacy policy and SLA)
Unique identifier is national insurance number or another foreign identifier dependant on nationality – there is a drop down to select nationality.
Under the security rules for the system it is an employer’s responsibility to make available the data that it chooses to the Nuclear Skills Passport system. If you have appropriate arrangements/agreements in place with the contractor to do this on their behalf then this should not be an issue. However, note that in doing the import, the contractor will belong to the organisation or you would have the admin rights in the contractor org structure – whichever is agreed. It would be good practice to hand any files downloaded to the contractor to upload then it is their responsibility under the data protection act to control these records going forward. See Service Level Agreement.
The Skills Academy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cogent SSC. Cogent SSC is not a government quango. They are set up as a charitable organisation and receive some money from government for the development of NOS and qualifications for the sector and other funding from employers.
Individuals will receive no marketing material from us unless they have given us their details for other purposes for which we have their name on our CRM system. In terms of providers, under the security of the system, they will not be able to access the database, hence they will not have any details of the information held on the system, ie individual contact details. An individual, will however, be able to contact them as a provider if the skills gap analysis signpost them to a particular provider – this is the choice of the individual themselves.
It is not necessary to inform an individual each time their information is accessed, unless your organisation wishes to do so. Through the normal contracts process, it is expected that an individual will be aware that they are being forward for a specific job.
The National Insurance number is the unique identifier for individuals in the system. This is the only thing that clearly identifies one John Smith being different from another and enables data imported for that individual to be mapped to the correct individual. The home postcode is required if the option is chosen to physical Skills Passport Cards to be delivered to an individual, the default in the system is the employer address.
As a National Skills Academy, we collate statistics on learner numbers etc and the geographical location is required to collate this on a regular basis. This is done anonymously and in accordance with the Data Protection Act.
The Skills Academy is working with Cogent Sector Skills Council and other relevant bodies to ensure that the Nuclear Skills Passport recognises the skills and training undertaken in other passport schemes and a task group is being set up to look at Construction Job Contexts, to which, for the purposes of the Nuclear Skills Passport, this will be the mechanism by which they will be recognised.
There will not be charge per individual Nuclear Skills Passport for Skills Academy member/provider organisations. A fully inclusive membership fee will be operational from 2010 for new members and 2011 for existing members which will include the Provision of a Nuclear Skills Passport for all employees. Both Supply Chain Companies and Site Licensed Companies will be responsible for paying their respective membership fees.
It is noted that members are responsible for ensuring that the appropriate fees plus any internal administration costs are included in their budgets. However, administrative costs, following the initial set up of the system for your organisation should be minimal, in particular, if the organisation opts to use the file transfer system which the
Skills Academy has developed as part of the IT solution.
Contact your Regional Manager for further information.
For individuals, not employed by a Skills Academy member organisation, individual membership may be accessible. Details of individual membership will be provided on request at enquiries@nuclearskillspassport.co.uk
No. The Skills Passport will be stated as being highly desirable in contracts from 2010 onwards and will increasingly become the key differentiator in supplier selection.
Companies will be given the opportunity to explain why they don’t/shouldn’t have a Skills Passport to ensure that (a) competition is not restricted in the Supply Chain and (b) smaller itinerant firms are not precluded as a result of Skills Passport implementation.
If an individual is experiencing difficulties with respect to gaining employment in the sector as a result of the introduction of the Nuclear Skills Passport, please contact the Skills Academy on enquiries@nuclearskillspassport.co.uk
“Gatekeeper” within the system is an identified user role, and refers to the individual within an SLC who is responsible for assuring (as part of the site licence conditions) that an individual entering the site has the appropriate training and qualifications in advance of contract commencement, in addition to further SQEP requirements.
The Health and Safety Executive have been fully supportive of the Nuclear Skills Passport initiative from the start of the development process and continue to be. Discussions have been held with them re this issue and agreement made not to incorporate these records onto the Nuclear Skills Passport in the initial development phases with a view to consider at a future stage once the Nuclear Skills Passport is fully operational.
The Skills Passport currently will not hold competencies of individuals other than the competencies that underpin the training and qualifications that an individual has undertaken against their role profile/job context. It is however, noted that an individual and organisation can build up a CV/experience profile for an individual in the system.
The Skills Academy are working with the relevant organisations to see if a common approach to SQEP can be agreed and evidenced on the Nuclear Skills Passport.
The Nuclear Skills Passport will aid in the demonstration of SQEP for the regulators.
The Chief Inspector of the Nuclear Directorate Division of the HSE has stated:-
“SQEP standards are fundamental to an industry as important as the nuclear industry especially against all the changes that may offer future challenges. Standards of competence possibly most important of all – for all of us! The Nuclear Directorate strongly supports any initiative, especially the Nuclear Skills Passport, which will underpin SQEP, but not take away responsibilities.”
Yes. The Skills Academy has aspirations to extend the scheme both in Europe and Internationally and is currently working with a number of bodies on this initiative.
Yes. All Industry Training Standards developed to date, have been agreed and endorsed by industry through the Cogent SSC NISSAG (Nuclear Industry Standard Setting Advisory Group) and the NESG (Nuclear Employer’s Steering Group)as per the approval process.
The Skills Academy now have in place for these standards, endorsement guidelines which will enable an organisation to self assess their current delivery versus the Industry Training Standards for inclusion of such training on the Nuclear Skills Passport. It is noted however, that in order to ensure consistency and standardisation of internal and external delivery to such standards, all organisations will be expected to have in place an action plan with an aim to achieving either the NEF Nuclear Assured or TQSE quality mark within a period of 6 months. If such training is continued to be recorded on the Nuclear Skills Passport system.
If you are unsure of any aspect of the Nuclear Skills Passport, you can contact the Skills Academy:
Tel – 01900 898120
Email – enquiries@nuclearskillspassport.co.uk
Yes – the Nuclear Skills Passport is a flexible system which can record both training that aligns to industry standards and company in-house training where required. This may assist organisations in building up a SQEP portfolio for its employees.
To input any data onto the Nuclear Skills Passport system, you will have to be a Skills Academy Employer or Provider.
Contact your Skills Academy Regional Manager for further information.
Existing transferable training such as qualifications can be recorded on the Nuclear Skills Passport and any new training undertaken. In addition, you will be able to record in-house and/or SQEP training. You will only be able to record training to industry training standards following an organisation conducting a self assessment process for such training. Only then would the Skills Academy be in a position to consider APL (Accreditation of Prior Learning) and are currently assessing ways to recognise APL with an external partner.
The Nuclear Skills Passport will be used to record industry transferable training and qualifications across the whole of the Skills Pyramid (from entry level to apprenticeships, foundations degrees and above) i.e. training that is aligned to industry training standards/job contexts and nationally recognised qualifications.
The Nuclear Skills Passport can also be used to record non-transferrable training i.e. training that is not currently aligned to industry standards/supports CPD etc. This could include company specific/in-house training and/or SQEP training.
What? Why? and How? Industry leaders have agreed on a required minimum level of entry for all people working in and with the Nuclear Industry, to ensure a safe and effective workforce and Supply Chain. Everyone will be required to achieve the agreed levels in: Basic Common Induction, Basic Nuclear Industry Context and Basic Nuclear Industry Behaviours, the What?, Why? and How
introduction to the nuclear sector.
* Basic Common Induction Standard – provides individuals with WHAT is required for ‘compliance’ for entry to a nuclear site.
* Basic Nuclear Industry Context – provides individuals with the WHY they need to comply.
* Basic Nuclear Industry Behaviours – provides individuals with an awareness of HOW they need to behave and embrace the nuclear safety culture.
The Nuclear Skills Passport will be phased into UK nuclear contracts as being “highly desirable” from 2010 onwards. The Nuclear Skills Passport will also provide evidence of training to the three bar standard which has been agreed across the sector as being the new minimum entry level for individuals entering the sector.
Yes – The Nuclear Skills Passport will be recognised across the whole of the UK nuclear sector and the Skills Academy employer led board has been the force behind its development.
For the employee:
* Keep track of the training you’ve had to date.
* Add unverified training and qualifications to your record, including your CV.
* Access to information on Skills Academy training programmes, qualifications and providers.
* Benchmark your existing training and qualifications against industry standard job roles (i.e. Job Contexts.)
For the employer:
* View detailed employee training records.
* See where the skills and skills gaps lie in your organisation through benchmarking against agreed industry job contexts.
* Manage training programmes – including your own in-house training.
* View Skills Passports of contract staff to avoid unnecessary retraining on Skills and Training. This function is limited the “gatekeeper” user within the system only and is administered by the Skills Academy.
* Access to a series of reports on skills and training within your organisation.
For individual Nuclear Skills Passport holders, Your username and password will be issued to you electronically when you are enrolled onto the system.
For Company Users, due to the secure nature of the system there is a two part passport process in place and details of this will be provided prior to implementation in your organisation.
Nuclear Skills Passports are available to all employees, whose employer is a member of the Skills Academy – IE part of the Employer or Provider Network. It is at an employer’s discretion to input their employees onto the Nuclear Skills Passport such that an individual is able to access their own training records.
In addition to this, Nuclear Skills Passports are available to individuals via individual membership to the Skills Academy.
Details of individual membership will be provided on request at enquiries@nuclearskillspassport.co.uk
The Nuclear Skills Passport is a web based learner database which will provide all employees and contractors within the nuclear sector with a physical record of their industry specific training and qualifications to agreed industry standards across the whole of the Skills Pyramid (entry level to apprenticeships, foundation degrees and above.
Yes – the Nuclear Skills Passport is a flexible system which can record both training that aligns to industry standards and company in-house training where required. This may assist organisations in building up a SQEP portfolio for its employees
The data will be hosted on a secure site to government standards of “Restricted” and company users within each organisation will require Baseline Personnel Standard Security Clearance in addition to a security token to access “many” records securely.
It is noted that one of the main benefits of the Skills Passport IT Platform is to act as a shared system that enables ease of transferability across the sector, hence avoiding repeat training. For this reason, the “gatekeeper” user within the Skills Passport can view training records for all individuals in the sector, if presented with their unique identification but not any personal information relating to that individual.
It is also noted that each employer can chose which training records they wish to be viewable to the SLC gatekeeper/contracts manager, for example, an employer would be advised to share all records where there is an agreed industry standard to avoid the requirement for repeat training.
Your competitors, will not be able to access information on the staff within your organisation, unless you chose to share this information, for example, for a joint venture.
CSC will manage the recording and issue of the RSA secure id keys as these need to be strictly controlled from a security perspective. The process will be than an individual/org on requesting access to the NSP, will need to confirm security clearance (or obtain it if they don’t already have it). Following this, the Skills Academy will formally notify CSC and then set the individual user up within the system. CSC will be responsible for setting up the VPN account and Tumbleweed account for each user.
XML/CSV
Example zip files are provided within the system that show the format required. These are also available on the USB key and on the implementation group e-room.
The secure access tokens are inclusive in your Skills Academy membership as follows:- 1 for an SME, 2 for Med Sized Organisations and up to 4 keys for SLC’s and Large Contracting Organisations. Additional keys can be purchased from the Skills Academy on request. Lost keys must be reported to the Skills Academy and a charge will be made for replacements.
For Individual Users – no equipment is required to access the system other than a normal PC with web access.
For Company Users – As above for individuals in addition to a secure token (RSAsecurID) to access the web based system.
Options:
* If a company wishes to create Skills Passport cards for their employees they can either upload images from existing files/systems or take photographs using a webcam compatible with the system which will cost an organisation approx £20. A specification for this item is included in the Technical Implementation Guide.
* If a company chooses to purchase a card reader, to read Skills Passport cards, without searching for individuals on the system manually – this equipment will cost each company an additional £70 per item. A specification for this item is included in the Technical Specification Guide.
* For those organisations wishing to transfer data from existing HR systems, the company will be responsible for ensuring that the data extract is in a format readable by the system – at an additional cost to the organisation. It is noted that an additional software package (Tumbleweed Gold package) can be purchased at a cost of approximately £500, and will give the company the added functionality of automated scheduling of transfers from existing HR systems etc.
For further information, contact the Skills Academy on
enquiries@nuclearskillspassport.co.uk
The Skills Academy has developed a series of three documents – Implementation Guides - to assist Skills Academy Member Organisations with the implementation of the Nuclear Skills Passport within their organisation. In addition to this, a Communications Toolkit and further guidance documents will be made available to each organisation to cascade this initiative within their own organisation.
For further information, contact the Skills Academy on enquiries@nuclearskillspassport.co.uk
If you are unsure of any aspect of the Nuclear Skills Passport, you can contact the Skills Academy:-
Tel – 01900 898120
When uploaded into the secure area, when you use any of the import functions available to you in the system, and then go into the NSP application itself, you see a mirror image of the files in your allocated secure folder within the Tumbleweed product. You then select file from the drop down list presented below.
When uploaded into the secure area, when you use any of the import functions available to you in the system, and then go into the NSP application itself, you see a mirror.
The NSP system was never intended for an SLC to extract contractor records into their own systems as discussed at earlier meetings. Instead, it was anticipated that SLC staff would access the system using the gatekeeper search functionality to check an individual’s records as part of the contracts process and setting that individual to work, ie to save the need for repeat training. No other user role within the system has this capability except for your own employees.
The extract current is for each organisation and extracts information by date using calendars to select the “from” and “to” date therefore not on an individual basis not for a group of contractors across 2 organisations for example. For EDF to extract contractor records from, for example, Doosan Babcock, they would need administrator privledges or they would have to request Doosan Babcock themselves to extract the records for uploading onto any EDF system. It would be the responsibility of EDF and Doosan Babcock in this example to determine requirements as outlined in the Service Level Agreement.
Extract in bulk for each organisation and their employees by XML.
The NSP system was never intended for an SLC to extract contractor records into their own systems as discussed at earlier meetings. Instead, it was anticipated that SLC staff would access the system using the gatekeeper search functionality to check an individual’s records as part of the contracts process and setting that individual to work, ie to save the need for repeat training. No other user role within the system has this capability except for your own employees.
The extract current is for each organisation and extracts information by date using calendars to select the “from” and “to” date therefore not on an individual basis not for a group of contractors across 2 organisations for example. For EDF to extract contractor records from, for example, Doosan Babcock, they would need administrator privledges or they would have to request Doosan Babcock themselves to extract the records for uploading onto any EDF system. It would be the responsibility of EDF and Doosan Babcock in this example to determine requirements as outlined in the Service Level Agreement.
Extract in bulk for each organisation and their employees by XML.
For relationship with your supply chain – yes if they give you permission and admin rights to update records.
For all fields regarding the user
(user_Id country code nationalId_Text first Name last Name primary EmailAddress profileImagePath streetAddress1 streetAddress2 streetAddress3 town county postcode country) they should send the full details everytime.
However you do not need to send the training records (accreditation name date of completion) again if they have already been imported to the system. They should only send the NEW training records for the user, otherwise it will generate duplicate training records.
The export will dump all training records completed in the selected data range and selected organisation every time the export is run. It is not recorded in the system as to which data has been exported.
Please refer to the system design documents if as an organisation you need to familiarise yourself with the design of the system. The system has been accredited by OCNS and undergone independent penetration testing.
The database is extremely secure:
It is on a secure List X site to government protective marking of ‘Restricted’
It has been accredited by the Office of Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS)
As part of the accreditation, the system went through very detailed penetration testing for which a report was submitted to OCNS. Put simply, an independent body tried to hack into the system using a number of methods to access data and all recommendations were put in place as a result of this exercise.
As part of the IT solution, the Skills Academy have developed a file transfer system which Members can utilise to transfer training and qualification data relating to the nuclear industry into the Skills Passport IT application.
The Skills Academy can provide, on request, implementation guides to assist users in the implementation of the Nuclear Skills Passport within their own organisation, in addition to a number of tools to assist with this process - including a sales and marketing toolkit for internal communication, technical specifications etc.
From these guides, each organisation will be able to consider the costs to them as an organisation to implement the Skills Passport.
If you are having IT problems please contact the Help Desk on 0800 917 3551. This is a dedicated IT support only helpdesk. For all other enquiries e-mail enquiries@nuclearskillspassport.co.uk.
If you are having any problems please contact the Skills Academy via enquiries@nuclearskillspassport.co.uk, or for IT support contact the helpdesk on 0800 917 3551 - please note the helpdesk is for technical issues only.
There are strict Security Operating Procedures in place at the List X facility in Maidstone for access to both the facility and to the database. This cannot be shared externally. The Skills Academy have an internal security policy which we could share if required. Please contact h.greaves@nuclear.nsacademy.co.uk directly for a copy of this.
The Skills Academy electronic privacy policy on our website is for our website only. This is not related to the Nuclear Skills Passport product at all, nor is the Nuclear Skills Passport hosted on our website or any of our networks. The Nuclear Skills Passport is hosted on an OCNS accredited network operated and managed by CSC.
The privacy policy ensures that the consent to such a transfer has been obtained (as a backstop position). However, in this situation (which is unlikely to occur as the Skills Academy does not envisage selling its business or the Passport database), the Skills Academy would notify users in advance, explaining the transfer and providing that users could be removed from the system if they wished.
This refers to the policy on the Skills Academy website. This is outside the scope of the Nuclear Skills Passport system which is (a) not held on the Skills Academy IT infrastructure and therefore has a different privacy policy and therefore doesn't apply in this case. For information, though, it is noted that those countries outside of the EAA do not fall under the Data Protection Act, US being an example. This is why individuals should be cautious of sharing information on sites such as Facebook and Linked In. I would recommend your organisation attending a Data Protection course on the 8 principles of the Data Protection Act if further information is need on this.
By definition the data will be in transit whenever it is being accessed. Furthermore neither policy state whether access will be via a limited number of PCs forming part of the RESTRICTED network or whether there will be general internet access (albeit with firewalls)?
The Skills Academy and our solicitors did not feel the need to elaborate on the extent of the security design and IT infrastructure around the Nuclear Skills Passport in the privacy policy as we have received comments from our employers during the pilot that they feel that it would over-complicate the privacy policy as individuals already struggle with the simple terminology used. The secure design and infrastructure is detailed in the relevant design documents should there be a need for the familiarisation on the detailed system design and infrastructure. The data when "in transit" as the term is referred is using a secure and accredited system called Tumbleweed. In addition, any documents uploaded onto the NSP platform on the List X site is via the same mechanism from your system/PC's etc. The design is all via the internet and is to "RESTRICTED" level. Must also note for the record that this concept and design is fairly novel and has paved the way with OCNS for similar infrastructures in the future as we are well aware that individuals struggle with the concept of "Restricted" and "internet" in the same sentence. it is also noted that access is restricted to those with the relevant security clearance and RSA id tokens are required by administrators to access the system over the internet i.e. something they know (password) and something they have (unique code on key) to confirm identity pre access.
The Skills Academy has the overall responsibility for securing the data in the system. An agreement will be put in place with all company users defining the Rules of Engagement/Terms and Conditions.
The Skills Academy guarantees that this information will not be passed onto any other bodies other than those users identified in the Privacy Policy as this would be against its legal requirements under the Data Protection Act.
From a security and data governance perspective, the approach agreed with the Office of Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) is that each employer organisation will be responsible for the data that it makes available to the Skills Academy for recording on the Skills Passport. This includes the responsibility for obtaining the relevant permissions from their employees’ wrt Data Protection i.e. permission will have to be explicitly sought from all individuals to have their training and qualification records stored on the Skills Passport IT application.
Once the data is in the system, the Skills Academy will be responsible for the data, in particular, the security hosting of the database including access to the information. It is however noted that each member organisation using the scheme will have to appoint a skills administrator who will have a duty of joint data controller as per the requirements of the Data Protection Act. The onus will be on employers to manage their own data appropriately for example, archiving records when an individual leaves their organisation. being an example of this.
